Millions of people live in apartments or leased facilities such that, when they desire a wall mounted sconce or a ceiling mounted chandelier for soft, glowing illumination, they have only one choice. They are forced to use wax candles, and therefore tolerate the dripping wax on furniture and/or persons, as well as the extreme fire hazard. If they own the premises, they may have the second choice of paying many hundreds of dollars to install AC wiring through the existing walls and ceiling, as well as, the installation of junction boxes where they desire the sconces and/or chandeliers to be located. Obviously, neither choice is desirable. Also, prior art imitation candles have not been successful in appearing to the eye as real candles.
One of the principal reasons for this dilemma has been that battery operated candle-like illuminations have been limited to the use of one or two batteries of small size such as N, AAA or AA size because this small battery size is required in order to fit within the circumference and length of hollow plastic imitation candles. Due to these very low levels of illumination, and the very short burn times of the mini bulbs powered by such small batteries, such prior devices have been limited to use only as holiday decorations on mantles and windows. They have not been in anyway able to function as wall sconces for illuminating a dinner in the home, much less in a restaurant, and much less as a ceiling mounted chandelier where the requirements of illumination levels and the required burn times are many times that of the small batteries which may be enclosed in the imitation candles of the prior art. In addition, the use of prior art cylindrical plastic tubes to represent the candles has not made such electric candles to appear as real wax candles.